Hey all! New guy to this forum, but not to the truck world especially dentsides. Been putting this truck together over the last 5 years or so of ownership. Originally was owned by a friend.
Truck is a 79 150, 2wd. Originally 302/3 on the tree, 9" axle. When I got it a 351M and C6 were swapped in out of a car. I belive the truck sat in a bone yard in Ohio for many years as it was repainted and had doors put on it sometime in the 80s early 90s. Motor had an intake, a fairly rowdy cam, chain, headers, reman heads, and.030" stock replacement pistons. We put a B&M Stage 2 shift kit in with a ratchet shifter and a set of 3.89 gears. It ran great for what it was, a solid 300hp. Easily able to out run most 460 powered trucks and keep up with modern Hemis. Unfortunately summer of 2018 I lost the cam and had a lifter stick in the bore and wipe out a lobe and a good chunk of the lifter. So, tear down began. There's a lot of history and I could talk for days but I'll keep this fairly simple as I can.
So I turned the 351M into a 400. First idea was 460 swap and then I decided to heck with it let's build a 400. Sourced a 400 crank from a friend. Polished STD/STD. Loaded it up with Clevite P series bearings. Had a Kevko 7qt pan made, ARP studs top to bottom. .040" over with TMeyer KB 13.3cc step dish flat tops and took .020" off the deck for true 0 deck at TDC. Converted to roller cam and stuck a Comp 32-431-8 in it (224/224 @.050", .566/.566 110). To do this I used the spider tray setup from a 302. Matched to the cam is a set of Ford Performance 302R hydraulic roller lifters and Manley 8.950 pushrods. Converting to roller lifters took just over a half inch out of pushrod length. I used Comp Cam Ultra Pro Magnum 1.70 full roller rockers. The heads had a .040" compressed Cometic MLS gasket and I went with Trick Flow 195cc heads with 72cc chambers to keep the compression around 10.3-10.5:1. 6AL MSD Ignition with a MSD 85805 351 Windsor distributor that I put a Cleveland cam gear on. I had Price Motorsports CNC mill me a set of adapter spacers for the heads and topped it off with a 351C Air Gap intake and a 1" spacer with a Quick Fuel 750cfm Brawler. We are thinking power should be around the 500 mark. I left some on the table with the compression and cam as I wanted power brakes and ability to put fuel in it anywhere.
But I didn't stop there. I kept the C6 and after breaking 2 cases back to back I had to source a third. I found a ribbed vase and used that over the car cases Id had. I had a custom 2700-3000 stall converter made. 10" billet, hand furnace brazed, needle bearings and bearings for the stator and anti balloon plates. The trans kept the B&M shift kit but now we matched the apply lever and servo along with a Lincoln drum with an extra (and upgraded) clutch packs and an extra wide band for the 2nd gear drum. I also rollerized it and used E4OD planetaries. I the last thing on the trans is a deep B&M pan with an external filter kit and cooling is provided via a 47k BTU Derale remote cooler and fan.
The rear end stayed the 9" but I got a ton of refurbished ex-Nascar parts. The third member is now a Motorsports big bearing H case drilled and tapped for a pump. I kept the same ratio at 3.89 but now use Richmond gears instead of Motive. I upgraded to a Daytona pinion support from JGR's cup car and Yukon 1541H 31 spline axles. I also used a 980 mile Detroit locker from Earnhardt Jr's #88 car along with a G Force 1350 yoke and solid pinion spacer. The last thing was getting a billet 1350 slip yoke and I used a GMC Savanna 2500 5" aluminum drive shaft and had it shortened 2 inches as my factory one was gone.
Right now I just have cheap traction bars and a set of 325/50/15 Nitto NT555Rs on the back. I lowered the rear with 2" drop shackles and left the front alone with a set of BlackMax shocks as I didn't think 90/10s would be great on the street. Ideally I'd like to 4 link or at least get Caltracs to get some power down. I still have some wiring and plumbing, figure out hoses and PCV, install my Gilmer belt drive, valve cover baffling, 3G alternator swap, air cleaner hood clearance and a few things other to do since it's not totally how I want it yet but I went and got plates yesterday and I am very excited to be getting it back on the road after 5 years.
Truck is a 79 150, 2wd. Originally 302/3 on the tree, 9" axle. When I got it a 351M and C6 were swapped in out of a car. I belive the truck sat in a bone yard in Ohio for many years as it was repainted and had doors put on it sometime in the 80s early 90s. Motor had an intake, a fairly rowdy cam, chain, headers, reman heads, and.030" stock replacement pistons. We put a B&M Stage 2 shift kit in with a ratchet shifter and a set of 3.89 gears. It ran great for what it was, a solid 300hp. Easily able to out run most 460 powered trucks and keep up with modern Hemis. Unfortunately summer of 2018 I lost the cam and had a lifter stick in the bore and wipe out a lobe and a good chunk of the lifter. So, tear down began. There's a lot of history and I could talk for days but I'll keep this fairly simple as I can.
So I turned the 351M into a 400. First idea was 460 swap and then I decided to heck with it let's build a 400. Sourced a 400 crank from a friend. Polished STD/STD. Loaded it up with Clevite P series bearings. Had a Kevko 7qt pan made, ARP studs top to bottom. .040" over with TMeyer KB 13.3cc step dish flat tops and took .020" off the deck for true 0 deck at TDC. Converted to roller cam and stuck a Comp 32-431-8 in it (224/224 @.050", .566/.566 110). To do this I used the spider tray setup from a 302. Matched to the cam is a set of Ford Performance 302R hydraulic roller lifters and Manley 8.950 pushrods. Converting to roller lifters took just over a half inch out of pushrod length. I used Comp Cam Ultra Pro Magnum 1.70 full roller rockers. The heads had a .040" compressed Cometic MLS gasket and I went with Trick Flow 195cc heads with 72cc chambers to keep the compression around 10.3-10.5:1. 6AL MSD Ignition with a MSD 85805 351 Windsor distributor that I put a Cleveland cam gear on. I had Price Motorsports CNC mill me a set of adapter spacers for the heads and topped it off with a 351C Air Gap intake and a 1" spacer with a Quick Fuel 750cfm Brawler. We are thinking power should be around the 500 mark. I left some on the table with the compression and cam as I wanted power brakes and ability to put fuel in it anywhere.
But I didn't stop there. I kept the C6 and after breaking 2 cases back to back I had to source a third. I found a ribbed vase and used that over the car cases Id had. I had a custom 2700-3000 stall converter made. 10" billet, hand furnace brazed, needle bearings and bearings for the stator and anti balloon plates. The trans kept the B&M shift kit but now we matched the apply lever and servo along with a Lincoln drum with an extra (and upgraded) clutch packs and an extra wide band for the 2nd gear drum. I also rollerized it and used E4OD planetaries. I the last thing on the trans is a deep B&M pan with an external filter kit and cooling is provided via a 47k BTU Derale remote cooler and fan.
The rear end stayed the 9" but I got a ton of refurbished ex-Nascar parts. The third member is now a Motorsports big bearing H case drilled and tapped for a pump. I kept the same ratio at 3.89 but now use Richmond gears instead of Motive. I upgraded to a Daytona pinion support from JGR's cup car and Yukon 1541H 31 spline axles. I also used a 980 mile Detroit locker from Earnhardt Jr's #88 car along with a G Force 1350 yoke and solid pinion spacer. The last thing was getting a billet 1350 slip yoke and I used a GMC Savanna 2500 5" aluminum drive shaft and had it shortened 2 inches as my factory one was gone.
Right now I just have cheap traction bars and a set of 325/50/15 Nitto NT555Rs on the back. I lowered the rear with 2" drop shackles and left the front alone with a set of BlackMax shocks as I didn't think 90/10s would be great on the street. Ideally I'd like to 4 link or at least get Caltracs to get some power down. I still have some wiring and plumbing, figure out hoses and PCV, install my Gilmer belt drive, valve cover baffling, 3G alternator swap, air cleaner hood clearance and a few things other to do since it's not totally how I want it yet but I went and got plates yesterday and I am very excited to be getting it back on the road after 5 years.
